Flying high! OK, so the picture is unrelated to my post. But got a good shot from the 51st floor of a condomium building that is built on what used to be Tokyo Bay.
The real point is a new book I just heard about. This looks like an interesting book from Newt Gingrich a famous US Statesman.
I’ve not read the book yet, but I did get the general idea.
1) Dream Big
2) Work Hard
3) Learn Everyday (and work smart!)
4) Enjoy Life
5) Be True To Yourself
Jun 2
It has become really clear to me that to stay healthy and well, there is more than just exercise to think about.
The Big Three for Health & Fitness are
1) Exercise
2) Nutrition
3) Sleep
We’ve got to keep the balance to be a good contributor of our corporate team. Very good to keep this in mind.
Since September, we’ve gotten busier and busier. It seems like most people are throwing out the IT department and trying to cut costs. It makes sense as most management teams are wanting to invest in their front lines.
We have a new media business. As I was talking with a friend at a large advertising company, we talked about managing engineers vs managing creatives. We talked about how is a bit like herding cats sometimes. He told me about this hilarious commercial of years past (below). Reminds me of me how great it is to be in IT.
These words are timeless. If anyone remembers Phil Donahue, it is hard to remember a time when he was dumbfounded. In this video, it looks like he ran out of things to say.
It is important to learn from history and realize what good we have.
Apr 30
AINEO has just reached our 1st year anniversary into our business as a Service Provider. We have full-fledged clustered hosting on real servers with real firepower.
I can’t say it has been easy, as it is a lot of work to help people have the best email and communications and protect from all the various attacks of spam, viruses, while keeping the systems in top shape. Sometimes we feel like dairy farmer… we always have to be at the farm to make sure the cows are milked…
Over the last year, we have made major changes and built up our systems and datacenters. Special thanks to our great team who has really developed and become some of the world’s top server guys!
In 2009, we’ll have a more detailed DR (disaster recovery) plan in place and practiced. We’ve got a few others plans, stay tuned…
AINEO Secure has really evolved and grown into one of the best services available. We will be making more announcements shortly.
Apr 29
I must admit, it has been a long time since updated my blog. My projects for 2008 were
1) AINEO Secure- Hosted Email and websites
2) ShoreTel- Setting up the ShoreTel sales and support team in Japan.
It takes a long time to set up a service. You’ve got to make sure you’ve do it right, and keep doing it right.
We have had great success, but the games have just begun! Great things are coming
Summary- Don’t lie about your career or experience.
Someone at our company recently noticed an online resume from a person who was doing computer support for us. His online profile is pasted below. We were all amazed at the great person he seems to be on paper.
A bunch of funny points were-
-we have never had anyone entitled “Senior SE” or “Developer” on our team
-we don’t have any blade servers in our Datacenters, nor at any of our partners
-his migrations to Exchange 2007 were close to executed (not planned) about as well as the Titanic’s maiden voyage.
-he maintained a MS CRM that he took down for 3 weeks, by which time the sales team was furious and had put in a better CRM system themselves. They soon after deemed him “Dr. Death” after he messed up their notebook PCs and didn’t want him touching anything of theirs.
-He started working here in January 2007 (not 2006). He was given his second performance warning on 1 July 2008 on his way to termination. Essentially, most of what he listed has already been rebuilt.
The list goes on and on. I am amazed to see someone outright lie about so much. Why is it that some people just don’t get it? We’ve got to realize some people will never change.
If you are managing a team, make sure it is your priority to focus on winners. If you have losers in your midst, relieve them as quickly as possible. In this particular case, we should have acted sooner but we really wanted to see this guy grow and develop into someone who could contribute to the company and even society. He was just a mess.
I am very excited about the great team we have. It takes time to read people but once you get it, you can build a great team. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give people chances, we’ve just got to realize, some people just never get it. I am excited because AINEO is truly an elite engineering team getting stronger and stronger.
It is a great sign when quality people come back to your firm. We have welcomed back two great engineers this year and can see their contributions already.
QUOTED FROM www.linkedin.com
We have been using Windows Mobile Devices connected to an Exchange 2003 Server for a little over 3 years now and are in the process of deploying that solution globally. This was a “greenfield” deployment with little or no prior smart-devices in the field, so all products were judged without legacy considerations.
To answer some of your questions:
I was involved in the decision making process to go with Windows Mobile and we ended up making the decision of WM over Blackberry for the following reasons:
• Cost: 4 years back, the deployment and maintenance of BES was a significant expense and it was no secret that at the time RIM was generating most of revenue on the servers sales and support vs. device sales and support. The WM layer was built-in to the Exchange 2003 system, which meant no additional licensing costs or server costs. It also meant less training and overhead from an HR standpoint in an area where FTE’s were still a significant concern.
• Device/Wireless Provider flexibility: Historically, separating the software from the hardware has led to faster innovation and product development. We were intrigued by the development model that Microsoft had chosen to use, which was to make the software available and customizable by the hardware vendors and felt that this would ultimately give is a broader range of product to choose from and easier way to switch Wireless Providers (or even use many different Wireless Providers) should we wish to.
• End-User comfort: While there was small and vocal group during testing and evaluation that preferred the simplicity of the Blackberry interface, most non-power users that we did our evaluations with preferred the “comfort” factor of the windows-like interface as well as the mini-Office applications. The WM version of Outlook was especially well-liked.
• Security/IP issues: There was a lot of discomfort (warranted or not) about the idea of email and discussions revolving around IP being moved through a centralized Blackberry network. Many of our CxO’s were more comfortable with the idea of the devices establishing a direct, SSL based connection to our mail servers and updating in that manner.
A little over 3 years after deploying the first of these devices on a fair-sized scale (about 1,000 Windows Mobile Devices in the field), it is possible to make a few broad observations here:
• Initial stability of the Windows Mobile O/S left a lot to be desired. Second-generation product (which was the first device we mass-deployed) typically had to be reset about once-a-week, battery life was poor, and all user settings got wiped if the battery was completely depleted.
• However, as frustrating as the First and Second-generation products were, the current generation of Windows Mobile devices are quite nice indeed, with very few issues overall. The range of design has also met expectations, with a WM design to fit almost every individual user need. The downside is that the quality of hardware and the implementation of the WM O/S on that hardware can vary widely. Testing new designs is therefore very important. (i.e. don’t assume that because all the devices are running WM 5.0, they will behave in same manner or have consistently reliability on different hardware designs).
• Wireless Provider support was (and still for the most part is) pitiful. An unanticipated side-effect of separating the O/S from the Hardware was the amount of interjections and interference that many of the major U.S. Wireless carriers inserted into the design and how often that they stifled innovation. In addition there was a complete lack of understanding of the Windows Mobile operating system, which has lead to tremendous amount of finger-pointing when design issues for a particular device are run into. The simplest way to solve this is to thoroughly test candidate WM devices and (complain) to the Wireless Carriers when you find features or capabilities that have been “turned off” or removed for one reason or another.
• Costs and support have been lower that what we have seen with similar sized locations running BES. We have found that after 3 years, the amount of support we have to provide for our Windows Mobile users has remained fairly low-level, with no FTE needed to support them. Basic support is provided through our help-desk and advanced support is provided through our Exchange Admin Team.
• The potential for broadening the types of devices and O/S’es beyond the Windows Mobile platform, while not fully realized yet, has great potential. Because of MS’s aggressive licensing of the ActiveSync layer to mobile device manufacturers, we are heading in a direction where it will be possible to deploy devices running on a non-MS platform that can still directly connect to the Exchange Server. This standardization of the communications layer brings us out of the locked communications system that is BES and will allow us to look at devices like the iPhone should we choose to do so.
If we could do all over again, I believe we would…
This is some very good information for you to know if you are concerned about health and wellness. Quoted to below.
Sources: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy, National Geographic Green Guide
Quotes from here
The basketball version of what is going on in education right now. (If
you’re not an educator, this may not make a lot of sense to you. But
send it to your friends who are in education.
They will love it!)
1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the
championship.
If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until
they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after
two years they have not won the championship, their basketballs and
equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship.
2. All kids will be expected to have the same basketball skills at the
same time, even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities
to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of
interest in basketball, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic
abilities or disabilities of themselves or their parents.
ALL KIDS WILL PLAY BASKETBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!
3. Talented players will be asked to workout on their own, without
instruction.
This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time
with the athletes who aren’t interested in basketball, have limited
athletic ability or whose parents don’t like basketball!
4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in
the 4th, 8th, and 11th games. This will create a New Age of Sports where
every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams
will reach the same minimum goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child
gets left behind. If parents do not like this new law, they are
encouraged to vote for vouchers and support private schools that can
screen out the non-athletes and prevent their children from having to go
to school with bad basketball players.
